The Game
by Hergan
Summary: The Ellimist and Crayak are having a flag football game to decide the fate of the universe. It's team Chee v. the HorkBajir. Controversies, lawsuits and more. R&R!
1. Prologue

A/N: Co-author: Ember Nickel

The intergalactic matchup  
(Well, not really)  
The galactic matchup  
(The matchup taking place on Planet Earth)  
Well there are so many of those!  
(So what)  
So this is stupid  
(DON'T MAKE ME USE THE CAPITAL LETTERS)  
We're doomed.  
(I hope you are)  
Hey Drode! I need a poster.

Game of a lifetime!  
Tix 42 of any form of $$$ on the planet?  
(42?)  
I'm keeping 12 as profit.  
(But that's immoral!)


	2. Chapter 1

"Let's go!" Rachel said, calling to Cassie.

"But I don't want to go," Cassie said back.

"We'll be late. Jake and Marco are already there."

"Jake? Jake! Jake's gonna be there? Let me change!" Cassie began rummaging through the closet for something different to wear.

"Let me help you. I'm the one that's supposed to care about how you dress anyways..." Rachel ran over to her friend's closet and looked through it.

"Don't you have anything in here that isn't covered in poo?" Rachel complained.

As Cassie gave that serious consideration, in the back of the closed Rachel found a brand new shirt, never worn. "Hey- this is that really expensive shirt that I bought you two weekends ago! Why haven't you worn it?" She shoved the shirt against Cassie. "Wear it."

Cassie put the shirt on, while Rachel rummaged for jeans "No jeans - ah-hah! Let's go shopping!" Cassie groaned, but followed Rachel out the door.

-----AT-THE-MALL------

"No, those are too expensive," Cassie told Rachel.

"Silly, I'm paying for them with my credit card. Buy them."

"No, we should get a less expensive one."

"We're going to miss it. Jake's there, remember?"

"Fine. We'll buy them." The two girls get the pair of jeans and Cassie was ready to go.

"Where are we going anyways?"

"You'll see. We've got to get our hair painted now."

"Why?"

"You'll see. Do you want the fill in color here on the left or the right side?"

"Are you sure? That's not a normal color."

"Duh. Have you figured out where we're going yet?"

"No."

"You're dumb."

"Yah."

"You just admitted that you're dumb."

"Yah."

"Oh well." "Let's just get this over with."

-------IN-THE-HAIR-DYE-SHOP-------

The girls got their hair dyed school colors. Cassie still hadn't figured it out. Rachel began to drive Cassie to the game, or wherever they were going..

-------SUDDENLY----------

In the most convenient way ever, the Ellimist stopped time and Cassie, Rachel, Jake, Marco and Tobias got swept up in some remote corner of the universe. Tobias was painted, the left side of his hawk form one school color and the right the other.

"Well, we know that we're going somewhere that we need to be painted like the school," Cassie stated. "I wonder what the mission will be?" Rachel rolled her eyes.

Ax approaches, his entire Andalite body painted in the school colors. Cassie began to think, "Where could Ax be going where he could be in Andalite form?"

"What if he's not in Andalite form?" Rachel asked her.

"But he's in Andalite form-" Cassie pointed out.

"Very good. He's in Andalite form in the Eliemist's world."

"Does that matter?"

"The Ellimist's world?" Rachel repeated.

Cassie shook her head, not getting it. Rachel rolled her eyes again.

The Ellimist appeared in all his splendor and glory. "Earthlings and Andalite-" he began, "you need to fight Crayak one more time for me."

"What!" They all gasped sarcastically.

"Gather a football team. The match will be on earth in twelve hours. Good luck. Here's a rule book coaches." Suddenly a book appears, Ax scooped it up.

"But what about the whole 'free-choice' thing?" Marco asked.

"I gave up on that. Now fly!"

Tobias lifted off, confused. The Ellemist and the strange world vanished. Rachel and Cassie arrived at school.

"Now I know something's up," Cassie remarked, as the car reached school. "There's no reason to be at school on a weekend."

"It's not a weekend," Rachel reminded her. "It's a Thursday night."

"Same difference."

The two girls approached the school and Rachel led Cassie around the building to the football stadium. Cassie still didn't get it. Rachel gave the guy at the booth some money and they got tickets. They stood in line.

"Welcome, Cassie, to a football game." Rachel said.

"A what!" Cassie gasped.

"Football game. We'll have fun. Lets go!"


	3. Chapter 2

"I'll be okay," Marco sighed as he stood up, "as long as whoever it is doesn't go "free-eeee"."

Jake peered down to the 50-yard line. "It's Melissa Chapman."

"She should be okay."

"...O'er the la-and of the free-eeeeee!"

"Shoot me now." Jake was actually standing at attention, leaving Marco free to mutter, "I hate flags, I really hate flags..."

Rachel hustled in, dragging Cassie. "Have we missed anything?"

"No."

"What are you reading, Ax?" Cassie pointed to a large tome that Ax (in human morph) was studying fastidiously.

"The rules and regulations of football. Fuhfuhfuh-"

"Can I read it?"

"Yes." He handed it over to Cassie, who turned to the front cover to see that in boring text the title, "Rules of Flag Football." She opened the book.

"Well," Jake hissed in a whisper, "did any of you meet up with...an old friend, recently?"

"Yeah," Marco nodded. "Yeah, he's into football himself?"

Rachel laughed. "That's the one."

"Doesn't seem the type, does he?" Tobias approached in human morph.

"No." Cassie shook her head reflectively. "Hey, what's the difference between a quarterback and a halfback?"

"Twenty-five cents."

"Tobias..." Marco shook his head pitifully. "Don't even bother."


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: Because this site doesn't let you put thought speak symbols in, ( and ) will symbolize thought speak. Also written with Ember Nickel a fellow FFN writer.

The game was not going very well. The insert mascot heres were not doing very well. The opposing team, well let's just say they were barely breaking into sweat. And Cassie, seeing what real football was like, was in a hysteria.

"What are they doing!" she cried, dismayed. "They're going to hurt each other!"

"Cassie, that's normal," Jake tried to explain. "That's part of the point of football."

"And American culture is centered around _this_!" she exclaimed. "We should protest!"

(Personally, I find it rather amusing,) Tobias answered, who had just reached the end of his two hours in morph and had morphed out after dropping to underneath the stands. Suddenly he erupted from where he was and landed on a light post nearby.

(There's no reason for me to be down there in human morph. The view is up here.) He began to circle the stadium as if centered on a piece of prey.

Cassie glared up at Tobias, who was staring at Rachel in a weird way. Rachel gave a slight nod, and he looked away, focusing on the game.

"I still don't think this is right. I mean, why play such an aggressive game? It's almost like something someone purely evil would make up!"

"You mean Visser Three?" Rachel suggested in a whisper.

"No, even he can't be totally evil." The others gawked at her in amazement, wondering at what could possibly be going on.

Suddenly, the other team's quarter back intercepted a catch by pure chance. He looked around, trying to figure out what to do. Not seeing any team-mates open, he ran.

Jake and Rachel stood up and began to boo the play. Cassie looked at them and began to open her mouth, but was interrupted by Tobias, who was wondering if he could tell the referees some violation he saw in the air.

Finally noticing what was going on, the home team began to chase after the runner, not getting there very fast. One jumped at him and grabbed his leg, but failed to bring him down, only managing to be dragged along in the process. The opposing team had added yet another touchdown to the none that home team had gotten.

Unfortunately, Cassie had actually seen the play, and it had upset her a lot. Through a mouthful of tears, she sobbed, "The poor guy! He'll have grass burn!"

(In the wild it's eat or get eaten. In a football game it's drag or be dragged.) Tobias rebuked. (It's no big deal, he's not even hurt.) Then as an afterthought he added, (Have any of you seen Ax lately?) The animorphs looked around, suddenly realize the disappearance of their friend.

"He's probably in the food line." Rachel thought out-loud.

(I'll check,) Tobias said. The hawk took off from the light switch and over towards the food area. Suddenly he ran into the sign above the bleachers. (Man, I hate night flying,) he said as he fell.

A loud cry came from the stands: "FALLING BIRD!" Looking around, a girl in the back suddenly cried out as Tobias fell on her head. (Hey, it's Melissa Chapman...) Tobias said dizzily.

"TOBIAS!" Rachel shouted on the top of her lungs.

Marco looked up at her surprised at the sudden shout, then looked down at the ground. "I still hate flags." he muttered.

"What are you talking about?" Rachel wondered. Marco glanced up at her.

"Nothing. Aren't you going to say 'let's do it!'?" he asked.

"There's nothing for us to do," Rachel said.

"Well, let's find Ax, or rescue Tobias, or even recruit the Chee to be on our flag football team."

"So let's do it. Let's do it all."

"And if I said let's be a couple," Marco began.

"NO!" Rachel yelled, sounding disgusted.

Marco looked down and mocked heartache. "Why doth thou not love me?" he asked in a fake English accent.

Rachel rolled her eyes and looked up towards the back of the stands where Jake and Cassie were standing with Ax and Tobias.

(huh...?) Tobias said, waking up.

Cassie was talking, "We need to get him to the barn. We can help the poor thing there."

(What's going on?) Tobias asked yet again, trying to fly.

"Ooop! He's trying to fly away. Can you help me Jake?" she asked, turning a pointed look towards him.

"Of course." He said, looking at her.

"Hold still little guy," she told Tobias.

Falling limp, Tobias tried yet again to make contact, (What are you doing to me!) he cried and they carried him out of the game. (I know we're down by a bunch, but we don't need to leave the game yet. Let ... Go ... Of ... ME!...) He struggled with Cassie and Jake's grip and the group left the game.

Once out of ear shot, Cassie looked down at Tobias and said, "Stop struggling. Does anything hurt."

(My head and you're holding my wing too hard.)

"Sorry. You should be okay to fly, but to be sure, morph human."

(I'm a bird. Not a boy.)

"I know but you need to be a boy for a little while."

Grumbling, he agreed and they walked away from the lights and toward town.

Marco spoke up, "Let's go to Erek's house. He can help us with the football stuff."

"Yes, Chee would be very good at this football thing. Fufufu ooot balllll," Ax added. "What a nice sound fufufufu."

"Yes, fu is a great sound," Marco added sarcastically. "Especially when in combination with some other letters we know."

"Fufuooot!" Ax yelled into the night.

"At least at night we can pretend he's drunk," Cassie muttered to Jake.

Silently nodding his agreement, the group walked on.


	5. Chapter 4

A/N: Co-author: Ember Nickel. (,): thoughtspeak. Yada yada.

"Who could it be at this hour?" Erek sarcastically opened his door.

"Hi, Erek." Jake invited himself in. "What do you know about football?"

"Very little, however, I could hack the fantasy servers for you if you needed."

Ignoring Marco's gleeful look, Jake sat down. "Guess what the Ellimist wants us to do."

"If I started, I'd go on all night."

"Play flag football!" Cassie cried. "And he wants to bring peace to the galaxy!"

"Beats the alternative." Erek closed the door, letting Ax and Tobias demorph.

(So can you assist us?) Ax inquired.

"As far as actual playing goes, I could kick the ball at a velocity of…" Erek relaxed his hologram to calculate. "rivaling the escape velocity of this planet."

"That's great," Marco rolled his eyes. "Why don't you two nerds duke that out, and the rest of us will…uh…What are we going to do?"

"Make a game plan. How many on a team?" asked Rachel.

"Eleven at a time in real football, I dunno about flag though," Jake replied. "So can we get five Chee?"

"We'll need more than five." Cassie tried to be casual about her comment, but failed.

"What? Six of us plus five is eleven."

"Yeah, but we won't all play."

"Sure we will!"

"Ax and Tobias?"

"They can morph human."

"But what about me?"

"You don't have to morph."

"But I don't want to play football."

Rachel knew there were times when she could win an argument, and times when it wasn't worth it. Erek returned from linking up with other Chee. "They're debating it: it's somewhat violent, and we don't know if we'll be able to manage."

Cassie smirked.

"So," Jake kept them serious, "do we know who we'll be…opposing? Maybe the Howlers again?"

"I doubt it," Marco replied. "Crayak's probably got lots of weird aliens at his command."

(But flag football players?) Tobias pointed out. (And why call on us again?)

"One last time, he said," Jake remembered. "Does that mean it'll be over after this?"

"The whole universe coming down to a flag football game?" Rachel laughed.

"If it is," Cassie prophesied, "then win or lose, we're doomed."


	6. Chapter 5

A/N: Written with Ember Nickel, fellow FFN writer.

"Come my servant!" Crayak hissed from the shadows.

"I don't know who you're calling servant," Visser Three snapped, the arm muscles on his human morph rippling. "...but I've had enough with your secrecy. Just tell me what you want."

"Little one, you do not know who you are talking to. I am the master of evil, not you. I am the one who made you what you are. But if you insist..." Crayak began, then barked an order. Suddenly two bursts of flames appeared, revealing a gold throne with a shadowy figure seated on it. At this point, dramatic music began to play in the background. "Your duty to me is to fight the Andalite bandits in a game of football. Flag football. And you will win or you will die. Do you understand me?" Crayak threatened.

"You don't scare me," the burly human answered.

"That is foolish. But still... here are the rules. Then take your insolent self from my sight," The figure commanded, snapping his fingers. The dramatic music and fires instantly went out.

Sneering, Visser Three scooped up the rule book and began to scheme on how he could kill the so-called Andalite bandits during the game. He began to plan...

As Visser Three left the room, a spotlight that had been focused on him turned off, leaving the room pitch black.


	7. Chapter 6

A/N: Writen with Ember Nickel... I goofed up on some stuff earlier, that's why I deleted it, but it's right now...

Aftran looked around her in Karen's eyes and thought of how nice it was to see. How nice it was to have a form. And then she thought of how horrible it had been in that Hork-Bajir host with all the fighting. It made her mad.

_Why don't you just fight against the people making you fight?_ The girl that used to be in charge wondered. The girl wanted her freedom, yet pitied the Yeerk, which infuriated Aftran.

_Because that would mean more fighting... Dimwit,_ she thought to the girl, hoping to keep her quiet. It didn't work.

_But you could just protest, right. Take a look at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr._

Wishing that she had eyes to roll of her own, Aftran rolled Karen's. But she did look at the memories, which began to give her ideas...

_Ideas are good..._ the host interrupted.

_I didn't think that out loud, did I?_ Aftran questioned, annoyed at herself. Sighing, she went out of the small room that had once been Karen's, and began to eat the breakfast that had once been Karen's. After making sure it wasn't oatmeal...

But then, suddenly, something happened. The cereal that she had been eating looked a strange blue color, and so did the air around her. Sighing, she looked around, only to see that the cereal had disappeared. And she no longer had a host!

_Wait a minute,_ she thought, _If I have no host, how can I see?_

But before she could reflect on this further, a booming voice began to speak.

"Aftran. You are chosen to serve the forces of the Yeerks, but you don't have to serve in the way that they choose. Look to a Yeerk named Illim for aid."

Looking around, Aftran realized it was hard to turn her head. Then she realized that her vision was split, something that she had never experienced before. She could see that she had a tail, and that the reason everything was blue was because she was in water.

(Who's Illim?) she asked the air, wondering what creature could have done this.

But no answer came. Instead, she found herself back in the kitchen, eating cereal, and wondering what would happen if she did eat a little bit of oatmeal...

---AT SCHOOL----

Illim looked around, patrolling the hallways. His host made no noise as he caught a kid without a pass and escorted him to Chapman's office. As he left the kid to the more powerful Yeerk, Illim received a look to come back in a minute.

He left the office, bored with his duties and wondering what Chapman would want with him. Throughout his thoughts, he never once found it surprising that the world had turned a bright orange color and that nothing else around him was moving, or making noise. In fact, he didn't notice that the teachers were standing in front of classes, not breathing, or that the walls were slowly disappearing. He didn't notice that an orange fireball was falling from the sky. He certaintly didn't notice that it was Visser Three's Blade ship returning from a conference with the almighty Crayak.

No, Illim didn't notice much at all. But he did notice many things when he ran into a wall and a loud voice boomed overhead to watch where he was going. Like the fact that it was the only wall left and that he was no longer at school.

The Ellimist had more business with the Yeerks this hour. Like the fact that Illim had not yet been added to the roster.

"ILLIM..." he boomed, trying to sound threatening.

"What the..." the Yeerk turned his host's head this way and that to find the source of the voice.

"ILLIM, YOU MUST DO AS I SAY..." The Ellimist continued, by now having lots of fun playing with the helpless mortal's world.

Still turning around, Illim began grasping at straws, none of which were the one he was looking for. "Visser Three?" he asked.

"NO. MORE POWERFUL THAN THE STUPID VISSER..."

_Is it just me or is this thing laughing?_ Illim thought, wondering at what was happening to him.

"GO AND CONVINCE CHAPMAN TO LET YOU ON THE TEAM..."

"Can you please let me see what you are?" Illim finally decided on asking him.

"AND IF ANYONE TELLS YOU THAT I'M SUPPOSED TO GIVE MORTALS FREE WILL, TELL THEM THEY'RE WRONG, EVEN IF THEY ARE IN CHARGE..." The Ellimist added as an afterthought.

"OH, AND ONE MORE THING... SEEK OUT AFTRAN..."

"What the...?" Illim asked again.

But no answer came. He was back on earth and no longer in whatever strange world the Ellimist had put him. And not once did the Yeerk think to ask why.


	8. Chapter 7

A/N: ( and ) are thought speak ... written with Ember Nickel...

Visser Three emerged on his Blade ship terrified from his encounter but trying not to let it show. He walked to his control panel and pressed the speed dial.

"Hello?" a Human-Controller called.

(Hello Iniss. What do you know about the human diversion called...) he looked at his book. (Flag football?)

"Little, Visser."

(Imbecile. Bring your host's mate and her Yeerk, and I'll see if I can get a debriefing.) He curtly disconnected, then bypassed speed dial to a number no Yeerk lower than Sub-Visser was allowed to know.

"Are you sure?" the computer asked. The last time he had tried it, he had gotten a virus that corrupted his computer.

(Yes!) he raged.

A female voice answered, "This is a private line."

(And this is a Yeerk who can decapitate you.)

Visser One hung up.

Visser Three knew it was time to bring in a higher authority. He accessed the second number on his speed dial.

"This is the Empire Oatmeal Treatment Facility. How may we help you?"

(I need a supply of-)

"We're going to have to put you on hold for a minute- we have a new outbreak."

(In who?)

"Aftran Nine-Four-Two."

(Send her to me. I take priority here.)

"Y-yes Visser."


	9. Chapter 8

Briiiiiinnnnnggg. Briiiiiinnnnnggg. The telephone began to ring. Tom reached across the counter to pick it up.

"Jake?" said a breathless voice on the other end.

"Hold on," Tom said, planning on listening in on the conversation anyways.

"JAAKKEE!" he called, listening to his brother stomp down the stairs, and pick up the telephone. He still had a strong suspicion about something...

He walked around the corner and into the other room, where he picked up the spare phone. What he heard didn't interest him.

"We have flag football in gym!" Cassie complained.

"I know. So do I. What do you want to do about it?" Jake asked.

"Uh, why don't you come over?" Cassie responded. "I think our friend from class will be there."

"Right. See you in a minute." Jake hung up the phone, leaving his brother with nothing more than before.

Sighing, Tom raced down the basement steps, carefully avoiding scrutiny from any other members of the family. Slowly he turned and walked through the basement, to a small closet that hadn't been there when the family had built the house. In fact, he was the only one who knew it existed at all.

He entered the closet, slowly pushing a red button by the door.

"Secure. Alarm. Activated," a computerized female voice stated boredly.

Tom entered the closet and closed the door, pushing a green button on a broom as he finished. The broom swung into the closet, and a computer screen appeared.

A computerized male voice began to speak, "You have reached Vice Principle Chapman's office. He is unavailable to take your call. If you wish to speak with him further, please leave a message after the tone." The tone sounded. Tom waited, saying nothing. Suddenly, after about ten seconds, a new voice appeared, also male, but now not computerized.

"This is Iniss two-six-six, who is it?" it snapped.

"Tom, I have a report again."

"Fool. You don't need to stalk your brother. I'm in the middle of something. And use your real name!"

"Security. What if they overhear me? I can't be going around parading my Yeerk name! Besides... I think he's up to something. His friends all speak in code."

"Have you ever noticed that he's always talking to the same girl, this Cassie? He's probably just arranging some normal human behavior, called a DATE!" Iniss raged.

"But wouldn't he tell my host's mom if he was in love? That's what my host thinks..."

"Fool, your host hasn't been in charge for years, and hasn't known his brother in years. He is no use in this... Now, I need to get a team together."

"A team? For what?" Tom asked excitedly.

Clearly annoyed, Iniss hissed through the connection, "A secret one. Now, will you leave me be?"

"Let me on it!" Tom exclaimed.

Tom could almost feel Iniss rolling his host's eyes. "Fine. If that what gets you to leave me alone, go ahead. Join the team. Tomorrow at the stadium at twelve. Don't miss it, Visser Three might make an example out of you..."

Excited beyond belief, Tom thanked Iniss profusely and disconnected. He ran up to his room and began to plan.


	10. Chapter 9

A/N: Written with Ember Nickel... ( and ) thoughtspeak...

At the gates of the stadium, Erek's human guise nodded approvingly. "They've put up a huge external hologram to prevent being seen, so we'll only have to disguise you gang as Andalites." A few Chee were loitering inside.

"Well, we were always pretty sure they knew what they were doing. Better at this than football," Marco strutted in.

(There are seven of them,) Tobias reported.

"Anybody we know?" Jake tried to sound offhand.

(Yeah...mostly /everybody/ we know, actually...Visser Three, of course. Visser One, Tom, hey...Cassie! It's your friend!)

"Aftran?" she gasped.

(Yep. There's Chapman, and...some guy I don't know. And...is that Mrs. Chapman?)

"Cover me, Erek." Immediately, Rachel began her eagle morph, zooming up next to Tobias.

(Yeah. And-oh no. Please tell me that's not who I think it is.)

(Who do you think it is?)

(Tidwell.)

"Tidwell?" Jake raised his eyebrows. "A Controller?"

"Makes sense, actually. No human could be that evil," Marco shot back.

"Aw, he's not that bad," Cassie said loyally.

(Excuse me, guys, but who is this Tidwell?) Tobias quietly interrupted.

Rachel was slightly embarrassed. (Um, he's one of our teachers.)

(Okay). Tobias downplayed the fact that he no longer went to school.

(Anyone else?) Ax steered them back on-topic.

(Nope, just those seven.)

(All right. Chee, I suggest you portray seven of us.)

"Is this some honor deal?" Marco asked.

(Yes...)

Rolling his eyes, Marco moved near the Chee.

"Erek, could you broadcast my messages to the Yeerks in thoughtspeak?" Jake instructed.

(I can, Prince Jake,) Ax replied.

"Sure..." Jake didn't even bother to tell Ax to not call him "Prince".

The Animorphs and Chee moved over to the home stands, wrapped in their hologram. Marco checked his watch. "We're right on time-they must have been early. But..." He narrowed his eyes as he looked at the visitors' bench. "They don't seem very ready."

Visser Three was cocking his tail blade at the edge of a piece of cloth.

(This is the ugliest thing I have ever the possible exception of some human hosts.)

"It's a human tradition," Visser One snatched it away. "They use mascots to represent them."

(Hork-Bajir jerseys,) Tobias reported.

Cassie's jaw dropped. "That's a sentient species! They can't use them as a mascot, it's like using the Indians or the Braves! It's wrong!"

"Cassie, get over it. Not everybody's politically correct," Marco rolled his eyes again.

Always ready for an excuse to argue with Marco, Rachel retorted, "Politically correct"? Thank you, Mr. Lawyer."

Unable to think of a witty retort, he resorted to, "Your _mom's_ a lawyer... hey.. wait!"

As he pondered this, an osprey soared out of the stadium.


	11. Chapter 10

A/N: Written with Ember Nickel, ( and ) thoughtspeak.

Cassie flew over town, heading for Rachel's house. The osprey was happy, content with riding on the thermals. When she reached the building, the osprey easily noticed that Rachel's window was open, but it didn't want to go in. Cassie directed it through it anyways, and demorphed on Rachel's floor.

Listening, she could hear the sounds of Rachel's mom clanging in the kitchen. Cassie was glad to know that she was home; she didn't know where she worked, and didn't know where else to find her. Cassie opened Rachel's closed door and left the room. She clanked down the stairs and turned into the kitchen.

There she found Jordan and Rachel's mom, baking a batch of cookies.

"Cassie!" Rachel's mom looked up in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I need a lawyer and legal advice. Now- before the game starts and a sentient species' rights are violated. Drive me to our barn."

"Huh?" Rachel's mom asked, confused. She was about to be confused a lot in the next few minutes.

"Just... come on before you're too late," Cassie said impatiently, tugging on her arm.

"Okay..." Rachel's mom trailed, looking around. "Uh, Jordan, can you put that dough in the fridge when you're done stirring it? Mommy needs to go now."

"You don't have to act like I'm two," Jordan complained. "And you said you'd bake cookies!"

"Not now sweetie," she apologized, and followed an impatient Cassie out the door. The two got into the car, Rachel's mom looking at Cassie uncertainly.

"You can get to my house?" Cassie asked without waiting for an answer. "Good. Go there and I'll explain on the way. Don't make me buckle and don't get too distracted. In fact, don't let other drivers see me either..."

Now even more confused than before, Rachel's mom began to drive, only because she knew Cassie was Rachel's friend and thought that Rachel might be in some sort of trouble. Before she could ask any of the questions circling in her mind, though, Cassie was talking.

"If you are one of them, I will probably have to kill you, though I don't like it... Jake would make me..." she trailed, trying to find the words. "I don't think you are..." she tried to reassure Rachel's mom, unsuccessfully, while Rachel's mom wondered how Cassie could possibly hurt her.

"Yeerk," Cassie muttered.

Rachel's mom looked at her, now considering that Cassie might be crazy.

_She still_ seems_ to be confused, _Cassie thought, but tried yet another test, just to be sure.

"Andalite," she said, just a little bit louder.

Rachel's mom didn't give any response that Cassie expected a Yeerk to give. Instead she just said, "Stop talking nonsense." "It's not nonsense,"

Cassie decided to explain. "The Yeerks are a parasitic species invading the planet and the Andalites are trying to help stop it, or at least they say they are. And the Andalites have this morphing power, and Prince Elfangor gave it to us before he died, so we could stop them because it'll take a while for Andelite backup to get here and by then the Yeerks will have won and Visser Three will be at least Visser One... but we can stop all that if we win a flag football game because the Ellimist made this deal with Crayak and we need to win... but none of that concerns you yet..." she trailed.

Rachel's mom blinked and Cassie continued, "I can prove it. Watch."

Rachel's mom looked over at Cassie and found out why she didn't want to be buckled up. She was changing. Before Rachel's mom knew what was really happening, there was a full-grown wolf sitting in her front seat.

"Aaaahhhhh-" she screamed.

(It's just me,) Cassie began, cautiously. (I won't hurt you...)

Rachel's mom shut up and began to concentrate on driving. Looking at the wolf was making her sick. Soon they reached Cassie's barn.

(Get out of the car and open my door. I can't do it myself.) Rachel's mom did as she was told. Cassie hopped out of the car and ran over to the water pump in front of the barn for the horses' water. She began to dig until she reached a small blue box. (Take the box and hold it,) she commanded. Rachel's mom did what she was told, now believing that she was in some strange dream. Cassie demorphed and opened the side of the box and began to punch the numbers she had gotten from Ax before leaving the game. _He understood..._ she thought. Rachel's mom still looked confused to Cassie, so she took the box from her and buried it back in the ground. "Now follow me," she said, leading the way into the barn. She stopped in front of a Cooper's Hawk with a broken wing and opened its cage, cooing it as she did. "Go ahead and touch it and concentrate on it." Hesitantly, Rachel's mom reached into the cage and touched the bird. Cassie watched her eyes widen in surprise as the bird went into a trance and then a questioning look filled her eyes. As Rachel's mom removed her hand, Cassie closed the door to the cage. "Now remember the hawk. Concentrate on the DNA that is now part of you."

Rachel's mom closed her eyes, feeling that if she did this one last thing, maybe the purpose of this would become clear. It didn't. Instead, when she opened her eyes, she saw her reflection in the side of the cage with feather patterns all over her skin. "Wha-flmp?" she said, her mouth turning into a beak as she tried to talk.

Confident that Rachel's mom would complete the morph Cassie said, "It's okay, just keep going," and began to morph herself. The osprey again. (Come on,) she said, as she finished the morph. (We have a two hour time limit. We don't want to be trapped like Tobias.) She took off, expecting Rachel's mom to follow her. She didn't. (Hurry up! Tick tock...)

(I don't know about any of this, but I think I at least deserve an explanation that is less muddled than the one that you gave me before.)

(I don't have time for a less muddled explanation. Follow me and I'll try and explain it again on the way.)

(Can you at least tell me what I did?)

(You morphed a Cooper's Hawk and are now going to follow me to the free Hork-Bajir, where we'll meet Erek if Ax passed on my message and we can get some witnesses for the trial. Now come on. Erek and the game won't wait forever. Erek is needed for his kick.)

(Are we going to fly everywhere?) Rachel's mom asked.

(Yes, just not always by bird. And sometimes we won't use flying morphs. But for now we need to fly. We need to be there in time to meet that helicopter.)

Reluctantly, Rachel's mom followed Cassie, still confused over what was happening to her.


	12. Chapter 11

A/N: ( and ) thoughtspeak... do I need to say "written with Ember Nickel" again?

"I am an idiot," Marco said for the seventh time in the minute.

"Indeed, if it took you that long to realize it," Rachel countered.

(Should I go after her?) Tobias watched Cassie take off.

"No, that's okay, um..." Jake didn't need to make another suggestion, as a figure materialized on the fifty-yard line.

"Hello, humans and Yeerks!" the Drode taunted.

Marco swore.

"No, no, it's okay..." Jake thought quickly. "Ax, tell the Yeerks he's addressing their human hosts.

After doing so, he complained, (That is a grievous omission of my species!)

"Wouldn't want to insult the Andalite honor," Marco smirked.

(What are you and what are you doing? ) Visser Three demanded.

"I am the Drode, and I will be your referee today."

"Not. Fair." Rachel sulked.

(Why shouldn't I kill you immediately?)

"Our mutual... master would not be pleased with that. Not at all." The Drode approached Visser Three, who backed away.

"We can't let him be the ref!" Rachel continued.

(Got any better ideas?) Tobias asked. (Hey- what's that?)

"Huh?"

(A girl. Screaming. "Mommy! Daddy!" She almost sounds familiar- uh-oh. Here comes trouble- real trouble.) He landed and began to quickly morph human.

"What's going on?"

"It's Taylor- Sub-Visser 51."

Rachel said nothing, just took Tobias's emerging hand.

"Visser," Taylor pronounced. "I have an ultimatum. My host is as indestructible as they come. Promote me to Visser rank, or I will infest this human." She heaved a bag down onto the field.

(And... WHY DO I CARE?)

"Open it," she instructed Chapman.

He clumsily did so, revealing Melissa's paralyzed form. She screamed again before Taylor sprayed her face.

"Iniss's host will rebel, making both of you less able to function. The Empire needs me."

In response, Visser Three raised his tailblade to her throat.

Visser One, knowing an ally when she saw one, spoke, "Visser Three, as a superior officer I command you to let her go."

Reluctantly, he tried to pull back, but his blade was stuck. He had to morph to escape.

The Animorphs' hologram flickered as another Chee took control. "I have to go." Erek departed without explanation.

Meanwhile, the Drode was flailing in agony. "Get this Earth creature off or me!"

Marco nodded to the sack that had held Melissa and her stowaway. "I guess the cat is out of the bag."


	13. Chapter 12

Jake looked around the stadium, wondering what the strategy for this game should be. He decided to ask Ax, who had by now finished reading the manual.

"What do we do in this game?"

Ax, in human morph, looked towards Jake and widened his eyes. "I am widening my eyes in surprise, Prince Jake. T-"

"DON'T CALL ME PRINCE!" Jake stormed.

"Whatever. That being a new human term, correct?"

"Yes, 'whatever' is a human term," Marco muttered, overhearing their conversation. "Look, Ax-man, you should hurry, I think we are supposed to be getting on the field."

It seemed like Marco was right, as the Hork-Bajir were done throwing on their jerseys and were lining up on the field. Visser Three had stayed on the sidelines, looking displeased.

"Well, the game seems to have simple concepts. You try and catch the ball and run it towards the end zones on the end. En-ddd. From what I saw on the movie on Movie Night, you say 'huout houut a lot-"

(Since when have you watched Movie Night?) Tobias asked. (I thought you were busy watching Desperate Housewives.)

"The ladies who are desperate and have frequent male partners don't appeal to me as much as Movie Night does," Ax responded, clearly annoyed. "Anyways, you also may pull the flags off of people and then they don't have the ball anymore. Th-"

"That's enough Ax... it sounds pretty similar to normal football. I suggest that the Chee show us morphing human."

The Chee in charge nodded, and the hologram disappeared so that the Animorphs that were present were on their own. Rachel glanced down.

"Who did my holographic jersey? It's so out of style it is almost hideous!" Rachel complained.

"Does it matter?" Marco turned on her.

"Yes. I'm supposed to look _good_, remember?"

"You, look-" Marco broke off, realizing what he was going to say. "-great," he finished, suddenly non-sarcastic.

Rachel looked at him with a mix of disgust and humor, the battle on between which would win out. Humor finally did, as Rachel's mouth began to twitch.

"_That_ was funny?" Marco asked. He almost didn't believe it.

"Let's go. It's time to line up," Jake broke in, ending the conversation. "Chee, can you give us a pep band?"

(I think its on it's way.) Tobias said, seeing a helicopter in the distance.

Rachel looked. "I don't see anything."

(It's too far away for you right now. It should... there it is...)

Jake looked up. "Chee Express?" he asked.

"Apparently."


	14. Chapter 13

"Just think of it," Marco smirked as the helicopter descended. "The romantic music…the atmosphere…"

"Yeah, I'm thinking of it," Rachel watched it land.

"Really?"

"Yeah. And I'm also thinking of how you'd never expect me to sneak up and-"

"Knock it off, you two," Jake snapped.

"Playing Cassie?" joked Marco.

"I'd better." Jake was uncharacteristically angry. "She's flown the coop."

(Or not. She's coming back, with…something else,) Tobias reported.

"Jake, you've got competition," Marco laughed.

Meanwhile, Rachel's mom noticed Visser Three. (What's that…creature?)

(Visser Three, we don't like him.) Cassie explained. (But the ones on the field are the ones we're going to sue.)

Aliens, morphing powers, or not, nothing got between Rachel's mother and a good lawsuit. (Okay, so this is class-action? Violation of dignity?)

(Um, I guess. You can take over.)

(Cassie?) Tobias fluttered over in worry. (Who are you with?)

(Rachel's mom.) It was a mark of his flight skill that he didn't immediately panic and plummet. Even so, he barely cleared the ground before hovering back up.

(Rachel?) he privately called. No response. (Rachel!) He flew in a tight loop around Marco, grazing Rachel's hair.

"Oh. Yeah. What?"

(Cassie says it's your mom she's flying with.)

"Haha."

"Is this an example of human humor? More? Less?"

(It's real!) Tobias pressed. Before anyone could reply, the helicopter landed at the fifty-yard line. The Chee produced a hologram of canines exiting and playing The Hey Song: Rock and Roll Part II.

(Hey, can I talk to anyone with this telepathy?) Rachel's mom asked eagerly.

(Um, yeah, but don't start up a chat with Visser Three.)

(I won't. Hey! Rachel! It's me! )

"Who?" Marco asked, taking a step closer to Rachel. A step too close.

(I knew there were injuries in this game,) Cassie landed, (but not before they even started!)


	15. Chapter 14

As Chee-Rachel's hologram fell Marco got up. "Rachel?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah?" The Chee recovered. But it was too late. Jake approached the Chee.

"Where's my cousin?" he demanded.

"Right here?"

"Nice try. What have you done to her? I can get Erek..." Jake trailed.

(That's not necessary. He's coming already,) Tobias said from the sky. It was true. Within seconds Erek was by the Animorphs. He looked angry.

"WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING?" he stormed, grabbing the Chee by the arm. "YOU ALMOST BROKE OUR COVER! IF I HADN'T BEEN LOOKING AND SAVED YOUR BUTT-"

The other Chee gave a whimper. "I- I did- didn-"

(Erek!) Cassie swooped down near him. (What happened to your non-violent programing?)

"I CAN SHOUT ALL I WANT!" he turned on Cassie. Her feathers lost about half their size.

(Yikes!) she said to Jake in private thought-speak. But Erek was done with her. He rounded on the other Chee.

"WHAT THE _HELL _WERE YOU THINKING?" Cassie almost fell over in mid-flight, but was stopped by the fact that she was already on the ground. Instead she just fainted.

"Rac-rach-rachel- s-she..."

"YES?"

"I- I- ca-can't..."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'YOU CAN'T'? IDIOT YOU ALMOST KILLED THE PLAN! NOW I WANT TO KNOW-"

"Where you got the notion?" Marco butted in between the two Chee. "Erek, get a grip. It's fine now. And we need to know what he has to say. And you _aren't_ helping."

"AND WHAT DO YOU-" But Jake stepped up next to Marco, and Cassie woke up to flutter onto his shoulder.

(I have you covered,) Tobias spoke in the air to only Erek. Ax walked over to Jake and crossed his arms.

"This morph isn't very steady, but it is better than non-violent programing," he asserted.

Rachel's mom bravely tried to walk in bird morph towards Erek. Unfortunately, she fell over. In between gulps of laughter Tobias told her to morph out, which she did. She came over and completed the circle around Erek.

"I guess you have a point," Erek admitted. However the fun wasn't over yet. While the team had been arguing the Hork-Bajir had started the game. The score was already 20-0. Without the Animorphs in the game, they had been able to make several touchdowns. Fluffer blew the whistle.

(Hey Tobias!) Rachel privately called. (I'm the ref!)


End file.
